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Lanzar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to throw, flinch, launch”.
Below are all of the conjugations for lanzar in Spanish, in all three moods (indicative/indicativo, subjunctive/subjunctivo and imperative/imperativo) and all of the tenses, for each pronoun.
The vosotros pronoun is mainly used in mainland Spain, and is the informal second-person plural – it could be considered the Spanish version of “y’all”. It is rarely found in Latin America, where ustedes is used instead.
The vos form is used instead of tú in some Spanish speaking countries of South America, especially the Southern Cone (e.g. Argentina and Uruguay) and has a different conjugation.
| English Infinitive | to throw, flinch, launch |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | lanzar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está lanzando) and past continuous (estaba lanzando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. throwing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he lanzado and hubiera lanzado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have thrown).
| Gerundio / Gerund | lanzando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | lanzado |
The basic form of speech, el indicativo is used for making statements, talking about facts, events and things that are certain and objective.
The present tense is as it sounds – it’s for talking about things that are currently going on, which are habitual, or which generally exist. In English, this would be “I throw” or “they throw”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | lanzo |
| Tú | lanzas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lanza |
| Nosotros / as | lanzamos |
| Vosotros / as | lanzáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lanzan |
| Vos | lanzás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I threw” or “she threw” in English.
In Spanish, there are two past tenses where just one is used in English; the pretérite infefinido is typically used to refer to a concrete, specific moment in time.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | lancé | I threw |
| Tú | lanzaste | You threw |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lanzó | He / she / you threw |
| Nosotros / as | lanzamos | We threw |
| Vosotros / as | lanzasteis | You threw |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lanzaron | They / you threw |
| Vos | lanzaste | You threw |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was throwing” or “she was throwing” in English, and is typically used to describe things and set a scene, talk about events without a specific timeframe, or talk about habitual events or states in the past.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | lanzaba | I was throwing |
| Tú | lanzabas | You were throwing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lanzaba | He was / she was / you were throwing |
| Nosotros / as | lanzábamos | We were throwing |
| Vosotros / as | lanzabais | You were throwing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lanzaban | They / you were throwing |
| Vos | lanzabas | You were throwing |
The perfect tense is for talking about things which happened in the past but are still related to the present or continue into the present.
In English, these use the auxiliary verbs ‘have’ and ‘has’ – i.e. “I have thrown” and “she has thrown”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he lanzado | I have thrown |
| Tú | has lanzado | You have thrown |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha lanzado | He has / she has / you have thrown |
| Nosotros / as | hemos lanzado | We have thrown |
| Vosotros / as | habéis lanzado | You have thrown |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han lanzado | They / you have thrown |
| Vos | has lanzado | You have thrown |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would throw” or “she would throw”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | lanzaría | I would throw |
| Tú | lanzarías | You would throw |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lanzaría | He / she / you would throw |
| Nosotros / as | lanzaríamos | We would throw |
| Vosotros / as | lanzaríais | You would throw |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lanzarían | They / you would throw |
| Vos | lanzarías | You would throw |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will throw” or “they will throw”.
It is more commonly used for making a hypothesis about the present. To talk about the future, Spanish speakers frequently use “ir + a + infinivo”, e.g. “van a lanzar” means “They are going to throw”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | lanzaré | I will throw |
| Tú | lanzarás | You will throw |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lanzará | He / she / you will throw |
| Nosotros / as | lanzaremos | We will throw |
| Vosotros / as | lanzaréis | You will throw |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lanzarán | They / you will throw |
| Vos | lanzarás | You will throw |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | lance |
| Tú | lances |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lance |
| Nosotros / as | lancemos |
| Vosotros / as | lancéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lancen |
| Vos | lances |
There are two ways to form the imperfect subjunctive.
The first option sees verbs ending in -era (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ara (for -ar verbs), while the second sees verbs ending in -ese (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ase (for -ar verbs).
There is no difference between these two forms, and Spanish speakers use them interchangeably.
| Pronoun | Spanish era/ara | Spanish ese/ase |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | lanzara | lanzase |
| Tú | lanzaras | lanzase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lanzara | lanzase |
| Nosotros / as | lanzáramos | lanzásemos |
| Vosotros / as | lanzarais | lanzaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lanzaran | lanzasen |
| Vos | lanzaras | lanzase |
The future subjunctive is no longer used in modern-day Spanish, apart from in literary and legal contexts, and there is no need to learn it.
It is formed the same as the past/imperfect subjunctive, but with -e endings instead of -a endings.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | lanzare |
| Tú | lanzares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lanzare |
| Nosotros / as | lanzáremos |
| Vosotros / as | lanzareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lanzaren |
| Vos | lanzares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “throw!” and “don’t throw!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | lanza | no lances |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lance | no lance |
| Nosotros / as | lancemos | no lancemos |
| Vosotros / as | lanzad | no lancéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lancen | no lancen |
| Vos | lanzá | no lances |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya lanzado |
| Tú | hayas lanzado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya lanzado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos lanzado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis lanzado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan lanzado |
| Vos | hayas lanzado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera lanzado / hubiese lanzado |
| Tú | hubieras lanzado / hubieses lanzado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera lanzado / hubiese lanzado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos lanzado / hubiésemos lanzado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais lanzado / hubieseis lanzado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran lanzado / hubiesen lanzado |
| Vos | hubieras lanzado / hubieses lanzado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere lanzado |
| Tú | hubieres lanzado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere lanzado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos lanzado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis lanzado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren lanzado |
| Vos | hubieres lanzado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté lanzando |
| Tú | estés lanzando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté lanzando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos lanzando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis lanzando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén lanzando |
| Vos | estés lanzando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera lanzando / estuviese lanzando |
| Tú | estuvieras lanzando / estuvieses lanzando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera lanzando / estuviese lanzando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos lanzando / estuviésamos lanzando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais lanzando / estuvieseis lanzando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera lanzando / estuviese lanzando |
| Vos | estuvieras lanzando / estuvieses lanzando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere lanzando |
| Tú | estuvieres lanzando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere lanzando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos lanzando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis lanzando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere lanzando |
| Vos | estuvieres lanzando |
Voseo is the practice of using ‘vos’ instead of ‘tú’ as the second-person singular pronoun, and is common throughout much of South America.
There are various versions of ‘voseo’ used throughout the Spanish-speaking world. The conjugations for the most common type – used throughout Argentina, parts of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguya and Uruguay are below.
The present indicative (presente de indicativo) and affirmative imperative (imperativo) have different conjugations from the tú form, while all other tenses generally use the tú form.
| Tense | Vos Conjugation |
|---|---|
| Present Indicative Presente de Indicativo | Vos lanzás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos lanzaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos lanzabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos lanzarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos lanzarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos lances |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos lanzaras / Vos lanzase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos lanzá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no lances |